Woodruff, SC (October 8, 2008) - Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corporation and Rader Companies, Inc announced that they now offer an optional hopper with their feeder(s) to provide a streamlined feeding process.

In the application of vibrating feeders, hoppers are a critical part of reaching full capacity and control of throughput.  A well designed hopper also helps to eliminate bridging of material above the feeder, excessive feeder loading, and excessive feeder liner and isolation component wear. Jeffrey and Rader are now offering an optional hopper to take the guesswork out of this critical area of feeder installation.  

The hoppers are designed to the specific application with the proper gate and throat dimensions as well as the proper hopper wall angles.  With the feeder mounted under a Jeffrey Rader hopper a more predictable feed rate can be obtained.  Skirt boards are also a critical area of feeder operation and have been incorporated into the hopper design.  These skirt boards are located at the proper width as well as the proper bottom edge taper.  This eliminates binding of material between skirt board and feeder trough and provides maximum width for greatest capacity.

The hopper simplifies the feeder installation by allowing the customer to install a bolt flange.  Jeffrey and Rader will specify a pattern and location of the flange at a specified dimension above the feeder discharge point.  The hopper is bolted to this flange to insure the proper transfer and requires no additional hopper support.

The hoppers bolt together design allowing easy transport to installation site, a big plus for installations with limited access, such as reclaim tunnels.  This design also reduces installation time by eliminating the fit up and welding requirements of the hopper.  The standard construction is ¼” on ¼” chromium carbide overlay steel for heavy wear resistance.  The bolt together design allows for individual panel replacement minimizing downtime and eliminating the need for welding inside the hopper.

Jeffrey and Rader are part of the Size Reduction Group of K-Tron International Inc. (NASDAQ: KTII

Jeffrey Rader Corporation is a subsidiary of K-Tron International, Inc. K-Tron and its subsidiaries design, produce, market and service material handling equipment and systems for a wide variety of industrial markets. K-Tron and its subsidiaries have manufacturing facilities in the United States, Switzerland and the People's Republic of China, and their equipment is sold throughout the world.

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